


The Black Cloak

by BloodRedTitanium1022



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi is part of the team, Friendship, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Party, RyuAnn moments, ShuMako moments, Slice of Life, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 08:57:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21250766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodRedTitanium1022/pseuds/BloodRedTitanium1022
Summary: What was supposed to be a harmless halloween party leaves the Phantom Thieves fearing for their lives.





	The Black Cloak

„And that concludes homeroom for today, have a nice day.“ Kawakami said while gathering up her papers. As the schools intercom crackled to live, everyone in the classroom looked up.

„Attention Shujin, it‘s the 31. of october and the party commitee wants to remind everyone of Shujins first ever Halloween party tonight in the auditorium! Costumes are mandatory, of course!“ A cheery and overexcited students voice blared from the speakers.

Ann turned around in her chair „Oh, right… The posters are all over school.“ she recalled.

They had been busy with other things in the last few weeks. First it was the fallout after Okumuras palace and now they had to worry about Akechi. The school festival itself was only last week, but their enjoyment had been tainted when Akechi managed to turn himself into the puppet master, instead of playing the tool like they had planned to.

„Another party?“ Morgana uttered from his hiding place in Rens desk.

„Could be fun. Let‘s do it!“ Ren leaned back in his chair, shrugging.

„Are you sure? Shouldn‘t we… „ Ann started, struggling for words.

„We have enough time, besides, aren‘t we supposed to blend in? It‘s now more important than ever. If they already have their eyes on us, we should play the part of the partying teenagers for now.“ Ren yawned before getting up, holding his bag up to his desk so Morgana could slip in, unseen.

„How can you be so calm about this?“ Ann hissed, upset. She also got up and packed up her books before they both left the classroom.

„Trust me, I‘m not, but we can‘t do anything at the moment.“ Ren said in his calming voice, that nowadays was tainted with a bit of worry. He shared Anns doubts, but he needed to stay strong for the team. Him and Makoto were the most level-headed of the group, they needed to come up with a plan. Their current target being Makotos own sister sure didn‘t help her, so he needed to stay alert for both of them.

Ryuji was standing near the staircase, waiting for them, as always. They had almost reached the blonde boy when all of their phones started buzzing. A message from Makoto, ordering them and Haru to the student council room. Ren nodded towards Ryuji before making a turn to lead the way.

As they entered the council room, Makoto and Haru were already seated at the table. When everyone had found a seat, Makoto started „As much I dislike this, I think it would be best to attend tonights party.“

Ren nodded „I had the same thought. We need to act normal.“

„There has never been a Halloween party at this school...“ Makoto lamented. „After the scandals, the school is eager to keep everyones morale high, so they loved the idea of a costume party...“ The school festival had been last week. How was it justified to throw another party the week after? This wasn't even a real holiday. After looking around the room, none of them seemed very enthusiastic about this. Even in Ryujis eyes, there was a glint of doubt and nervousnes to be found.

„Okay, enough pitying. We will dress up and have a fun evening.“ Ren spoke up. „I‘ll tell the rest of the group.“. His last words were hanging in the room. The rest of the group. Did that inlcude Akechi now too? He could read their question from their eyes „Yes, we should inform Akechi as well. We need to make him feel like a part of the team. Given his popularity, he probably won‘t come anyway.“ To his surprise, everyone nodded in agreement.

„Good, then we‘re done here. See you in the evening.“ he clapped his hands together, getting up. It felt like he was cracking the whip on them, but they were all uneasy. They were looking for his guidance.

„Where are you going?“ Makoto asked, surprised.

„Buying a costume.“ Ren said as he was heading out.

It was slowly turning dark outside when Ren was assembling his look for later. Buying a costume last minute proved to be more difficult than he thought. He decided to settle for a cheap-looking vampire costume, consisting of a cape and plastic teeth. Underneath he would wear a black shirt and black pants. He didn‘t want to spend too much money, they would need some cash to restock on Takemis medicine soon, now that they their team had unavoidably had grown. Morgana was sitting on the table beside the stairs as usual, cleaning his fur. He had no idea why, but Haru had requested his presence at the party. He wanted to look his best as well, even if he wasn‘t going to dress up.

They heard the stairs creak before Futabas head appeared, wrapped up in bandages, like the rest of her body turned out to be as well. The symbolism didn‘t pass Ren, that Futaba dressed like a pyramid-inhabitant again. It surprised him a little, that she didn‘t go for the giant head, that she used to wear in the beginning.

„You‘re sure you‘re ready for another horde of people?“ Ren asked, as he put on the cape.

„Easy-peasy! I‘m ready for the next wave!“ Futaba said. „You sure you want to invite the suspect?“ she added, doubt in her voice

„I already did when I wrote to you and Yusuke. We need to make him feel like he‘s part of us now.“ Ren said.

„I know...“ Futaba sighed, checking her phone for a reply. He was the only one who hasn‘t responded yet. Maybe he was too busy. She was about to put her phone away, when it started to buzz. On the other end of the room, Rens phone went off too.

„_I will do my best to be there without drawing too much attention. Please don‘t feel obligated to wait for me.“ _Futaba read aloud, even her eyeroll audible.

„Let‘s go then.“ Ren turned around to face her, dramatically whipping his cape. He had put the plastic teeth in for effect, but was quick to spit them out again, when he realized how uncomfortable they were. He decided to only put them in when they met up with the others again.

Futaba cackled „Yeah, let‘s go, Count Cheapula.“

When they arrived at Shujin, Ann, Haru and Yusuke were already waiting in front of the gate. Haru was wearing a big witch-hat and a long black dress with loose pointed sleeves. This was also the perfect disguise for Morgana to join the celebrating, playing the witches pet by perching on Harus shoulder or beeing carried around by her.

„Don‘t worry, Mona-chan, I will be careful to not get you crushed.“ Haru giggled as she held him in her arms.

„You know you were supposed to dress up, right, Inari?“ Futaba asked, causing Ren to muster the boy as well. He really didn‘t seem any different, he was wearing the same white shirt as usual, a few droplets of red paint staining it.

„But I am in costume. I am portraying a murder victim, hence the red stains on my shirt.“ Yusuke explained.

After closer inspection, Futaba registered the small paint spots on his shirt as well. „That‘s not a lot of blood for a murder victim!“ she exclaimed.

„I admit, I was very careful with the application. I am still unsure, if this will go out in the wash again.“

Futaba sighed, doing a facepalm. Before she could say something, a shriek pierced through the night.

As if on cue they all spun around into the direction of the scream, only to realize that it came from right beside them. A dark-clothed figure had snuck up behind Ann before tapping her shoulder, causing her to turn around and come face to face with a scary mask, the faces features twisted.

As Anns scream died down, they could only hear a familiar chuckling.

„Gotcha!“ Ryujis voice sounded muffled from underneath the mask but you could still hear the big grin on his face.

„You JERK!“ Ann shrieked, balling her fists and stomping her foot.

Ryuji continued chuckling while taking the mask off, before his eyes opened wide when he actually caught a good glimpse of her costume. The sight from under the mask was very limited, in fact he only had been orienting towards Anns bright hair.

Out of all their costumes, Anns was the most elaborate. There was no way that she hadn‘t prepared this in advance. She was dressed as Alice Liddell, wearing a blue dress with a white apron with several „blood“ stains, over it, tied at her back in a large bow. Her legs were covered in black and white striped tights and high black combat boots with several buckles. She had her hair down, held out of her face by a blue ribbon.

„What are you staring at?“ Ann asked, irritated.

„Uh.. nothing… you look good“ Ryuji regained his composure.

„Shall we go?“ Ren interrupted the situation. Makoto, the diligent president she was, would already be inside, supporting the organization-team.

They made their way inside, walking into the heavily decorated auditorium. Loud music was blaring from the speakers, the middle of the auditorium the assigned dancefloor, already filled with students. The non-dancers were leaning alongside the walls, paper cups in hands, trying to chat over the loud music.

The group soon found their place, lining up along one of the walls, scanning the scene.

„I‘m gonna look for Makoto!“ Ren leaned over to shout into Ryujis ear before leaving.

„Where is he going?“ Ann immediatly yelled at Ryuji as she saw Ren heading towards the door.

Instead of straining his voice, Ryuji mimicked making out with an invisible girl, quickly stopping when he noticed two girls walking by, staring at him.

Ann looked at him with raised eyebrows. „I pity your future girlfriend...“ she sighed.

Beside them Futaba and Haru were busy looking at all the costumes. Morgana was perching on Harus shoulder, trying to act like the loud music wasn‘t torturing his cat ears. Yusuke had been gone to inspect the beverage situation, soon returning with three paper cups, handing two out to Haru and Futaba, ignoring the familiar scene of Ruyji and Ann bantering besides them, so caught up in their conversation, that they seemed to be in their own world.

Ren soon found Makoto outside of the auditorium, overseeing the coat-check. He had to grin when he saw her from afar. Leaning against a table, entirely dressed in black except for a bright green plastic hairband with two metal-spring antennas, wobbling and swaying with every move she made.He decided to put in his plastic teeth before walking up to her.

„Ai laik yor coshtum.“ he started.

Makoto looked at him, furrowing her brow.

Ren sighed before taking out the teeth again. „I said, I like your costume.“

Makotos brow still stayed furrowed, but this time in annoyance. „One of the other girls gave me this...“ she said, very unamused, pointing to her headpiece. „and now I‘m the only one standing here, while the girls in charge are inside partying.“

„Maybe you should just come inside and party too?“ Ren suggested.

Makoto acted like she didn‘t hear him „I don‘t understand the craze! Why do we need a day to dress up as something scary?“ she ranted, falling back into her old habits of over-analyzing everything.

Ren listened to her thoughts. When she was done, he waited a few seconds before saying „Beep boop.“

Makoto looked up at him in surprise, her features turning soft after a few seconds „I‘m acting like a robot again, correct?“ she mused.

Ren didn‘t need to confirm it, she already knew herself. „Thank you for bringing this to my attention. So, as my guide, how would you suggest we succeed?“ she asked.

„Hm.. first, you should go tell someone that you will leave your post.“ Ren started.

„That sounds reasonable.“ Makoto agreed.

„And then, we‘ll go inside and join the festivity.“

After Makoto consigned her coat-check duty to someone else, the made their way towards the auditorium.

„Am I allowed to take that thing off?“ Makoto asked, pointing towards her headpiece.

„Nope. You didn‘t come in costume, so you were provided with one. It‘s only fair.“ Ren shrugged.

Makoto sighed „When you put it that way...“

In the meantime, the rest of the group in the auditorium continued to take in the scene.

„Guys, did you see that? Someone is dressed up as us!“ Ryuji got excited.

As the others followed his pointed finger, they were surprised to see five costumes, all in their own way adorned with the Phantom Thieves logo, that was publicly known from their calling cards. Of course nobody knew how they really looked as the phantom thieves.

„Seriously? That guy just taped a lot of calling cards to his shirt!“ Futaba was disappointed.

„You think they‘re supporters?“ Ryuji asked.

„I wouldn‘t be so sure. After our recent plunge in popularity this could also be critics...“ Yusuke mused.

„Yusuke‘s right, this could be some edgy statement...“ Ann sighed. A few months ago, there would have been no doubt that they were supporters.

„Let‘s just ask!“ Ryuji decided, starting to work his way through the crowd.

„You idiot! You‘ll get us busted!“ Morgana yelled. Over the loud music, noone would take a cat meowing serious.

„I‘ll make sure that he doesn‘t do something stupid...“ Ann sighed, going after him.

„Is sending the two hot-heads our best call? We just sent our worst actor to save our loudest mouth from spilling a secret...“ Futaba questioned after Ann had disappeared into the crowd as well.

„Hey! Awesome costume. You a Phantom Thieves supporter?“ Ryuji walked up to the student with the many calling cards taped to his sweatshirt. Ann was quick to catch up to him.

The boy mustered both of them, his eyes resting a little bit longer on Ann before anwering „I‘m not a supporter, I‘m their next victim.“

„Why would you think that?“ Ann asked.

The boys focus was on Ann again, a cheeky grin spread across his face before he said „Because I‘m baaaaad.“. He threw in a wink in the end.

„Okay, that‘s enough..“ Ryuji stepped into his line of view. „That‘s not even what they‘re about!“

„Dude, what do you care?“ the boy grew annoyed.

„Okay, I think it‘s time to go...“ Ann said, grabing Ryujis sleeve and pulling him away.

„Hey, I wasn‘t done! He thinks that we‘re some kind of joke!“

„We‘re here to lie low, remember? You starting a fight over the honor of the Phantom Thieves will do the opposite!“ Ann scolded.

Ryuji rolled his eyes in annoyance. „Fiiine. Just one more and then I‘ll come back, okay?“

Ann sighed „Okay, but I‘m still coming with you before you get us into trouble.“

Ryuji raised an eyebrow „You know that this only escalated because he was gawking at you, right?“

„Shut up..“ Ann huffed.

Ryuji steered towards another student, who had a huge cardboard calling card hanging around his neck.

„Yo, cool costume...“ he didn‘t get the chance to finish his sentence, for when the calling card turned around, it turned out to be one of the boys from the school paper.

„Sakamoto. Of course someone like you would think that a group of „superheroes“ changing people in a shady way, was cool.“ he sounded condescending.

„What was that?“ Ryuji was taken aback by his sudden reaction.

„The real reason why the Phantom Thieves are a good Halloween costume is, because the fact that a group of people has means to drastically change a persons entire behaviour or even killing them, if they desire, is scary. Who will be next? Are we all in danger?“

Ryuji and Ann were both dumbfounded. From his point of view, he actually had a point. They both would have liked to reassure him, but that was impossible without giving themselves away. They slowly backed up without a response, disappearing into the crowd again.

„This effin‘ sucks!“ Ryuji cursed as they were walking back to the spot where they had left Haru, Futaba and Yusuke, only to find them gone and replaced by Ren and Makoto.

„The Phantom Thieves really are the bad guys in everyones eyes...“ Ann was crushed.

„There you are! We were starting to wonder.“ Makoto said, her antennas wobbling.

„Why do you look so down? Weren‘t we supposed to have fun?“ Ren asked when he noticed the looks on Anns and Ryujis faces. The two blondes told them about their encounters with the Phantom Thieves costumes.

„I guess that‘s just how it is at the moment…“ Makoto stated.

Ren sighed as he looked into the defeated faces of his three teammates. This wasn‘t going like they had planned. „Let‘s go dancing.“ he interrupted their thoughts, pushing all of them towards the dance floor.

Yusuke, Futaba, Haru and Morgana were standing in the schools courtyard, that was supposed to be transformed into a haunted path.

„What‘s a haunted path?“ Futaba asked, confused and deflated by the sight of the brightly illuminated path ahead of them.

„I guess that they were only allowed to decorate alongside the walkways, so they couldn‘t do a maze.“ Haru presumed as she eyed the row of screens lined up against the railings, creating the ilusion of a narrow alley.

„This looks lame...“ Morgana sighed.

„Do you also get the feeling that we‘re being followed since we left the auditorium?“ Yusuke suddenly said, motioning his head towards a black cloaked figure, his head covered by a hood, his face hidden, standing at a distance and not doing anything but clearly facing towards them.

Futaba turned pale. „Do you think that it‘s the black mask? Is he here to kill us?“

„Stay calm! Let‘s find out if he really follows us!“ Morgana instructed, pointing towards the haunted path. They nodded before going in, the predicted boringness forgotten and replaced by an actual unease.

They didn‘t take notice of a lot of the features of the haunted path, but Futaba registered some scary pictures now and then and lots of artificial spiderwebs.

„Noone following us so far, let‘s act normal.“ Morgana instruced. Haru was still holding him in her arms, his head facing backwards, keeping an eye open for eventual stalkers.

„He‘s not gonna kill us here, right?“ Futaba was still nervous. They weren‘t alone in the courtyard, a couple of other students where walking the haunted path with them, giggling, occasionally shrieking when looking at pictures.

„Have we been found out?“ Haru was worried as well.

„This is a very odd picture...“ Yusuke wasn't entirely worried by the situation, inspecting one of the pinned pictures.

As Haru and Futaba turned to look at it as well, Morgana started to tense up, whispering „Guys, don‘t make any sudden moves, he just turned the corner. He‘s just standing there again.“

„What do we do, what do we do, whatdowedo?“ Futaba whispered. Her body started to tremble.

„Let‘s pretend to look at this for a bit longer. Maybe he will pass us?“ Haru suggested.

They stood there for what felt like an eternity, but the figure didn‘t move as long as they didn‘t. They continued their game around the next corner as well, although the cloaked figure seemed to close the distance between them now.

As they were turning the last corner, facing the last stretch, they could hear hasty footsteps behind them. The figure wasn‘t running, but walking up fast.

„I think we should find the others.“ Yusuke, now an urgent tone in his voice, stated.

Futaba and Haru had to break into a jog to keep up with Yusukes large strides as they hastened towards the auditorium again. After their eyes needed some time to adapt to the darkness inside there, they decided to melt into the crowd while scanning for the rest. Morgana climbed onto Yusukes shoulders to have a better view, keeping his eyes peeled for anything familiar. Normally, finding two blonde heads in a crowd shouldn‘t have been this hard, but there were a lot of wigs tonight.

„I see them! Over there!“ Morgana exclaimed, navigating them through the crowd.

„Has anybody seen the black cloak?“ Futaba asked, clinging to Harus wrist as to not get lost in the crowd.

Haru turned around, her eyes going wide „He just entered!“

„We‘re almost there!“ Yusuke said.

They found Makoto, Ren, Ryuji and Ann on the other end of the auditorium, having a drink.

„Guys, this is bad. We‘re being followed!“ Futaba despaired.

Alarmed by all of their expressions, Ren and Makoto immediatly turned serious. Their leader and strategist were now in action. After they listened to their summary of the situation, Ren and Makoto grew concerned as well.

„Whoa, so you really believe that it‘s the black mask?“ Ryuji asked, disbelieving.

„This mus be some stupid prank, right?“ Ann asked nervously, internally begging for someone to agree with her.

Makoto placed her finger on her chin in thought. „Given our current situation, this all seems too convenient to just be a prank.. Out of your group, Haru is the only one going to this school. Nobody here knows Yusuke or Futaba…“

„What our plan here? He‘s already somewhere in this room with us!“ Futaba asked.

„We position ourselves close to an exit. I want to see this with my own eyes first.“ Ren ordered „Stay calm, act normal.“. He lead the way towards the next door, the group following, trying hard to act carefree.

After their regroup, they kept their eyes peeled in every direction, scanning for anything suspicious. Not long after, Ren spotted the figure matching their description, emerging from the dancing crowd. Standing at a distance, turned directly towards them. His face was still hidden, but there was a certain aura emanating from him, giving Ren the chills.

„Is that him?“ he asked Haru, who was standing beside him. She nodded, swallowing nervously.

The unease spread when the figure started moving towards them with large strides.

„Go.“ Ren ordered in an urgent voice, pushing through the door. Everyone followed, rushing through the hallways, clueless about where to go. The hallways around the auditorium where still bustling with students.

„Where are we going? Wouldn‘t it be safer to stay in the crowd?“ Makoto asked after falling into pace beside him in the lead.

„I don‘t know. If this really is the Black Mask, I wouldn‘t trust him to hold back because of witnesses, what if he‘s out to expose us?“ Ren argued. The cogs in his brain were moving. Did this person really come to a schools party to kill a group of teenagers? Even if he wasn‘t here to kill them, he still must know something. At this point, the threat of someone exposing them as the Phantom Thieves came close to actually trying to murder them.

Morgana was still sitting on Yusukes shoulder, watching their backs as his ears started twitching. „This is bad, I hear running!“

The group started to run as well, Ren turning into an empty hallway.

„Ren, this is a dead end!“ Makoto warned.

He had assumed something like that. They sprinted towards the last classroom, Ren ushering everyone inside before slowly sliding the door shut, trying to make as little noise as possible.

„Ren! We‘re trapped now!“ Makoto hissed, confused by how little he seemed to think this through. They both kept standing by the door, peeking through the glass window, scanning the hallway.

„If it comes to a stand-off, I‘d rather have it in here than out in the hallway.“ Ren muttered to Makoto while the rest of the group walked up to the windows across.

„We can try to escape through the window!“ Futaba announced, pulling at the handle to no result. „Locked...“

„Can you do something about it Morgana?“ Haru asked, pointing to a small keyhole in the window-frame.

„I don‘t know…“ Morgana panicked.

„At least try!“ Ann shrieked while she plucked the cat from Yusukes shoulder, careful but still flinging him towards the window sill.

„Lady Ann!“ Morgana complained, gracefully landing on his feet before going to work on the small lock.

They all turned grave silent when they saw Makoto and Ren tiptoeing towards them, their fingers pressed to their lips. Ren pointed towards the door. _He‘s __coming__._

They backed up into the far away corner of the door, perched together, while Morgana was still operating on the window look. While they were all anticipating it, they still twitched in unison when the door slid open, revealing the outlines of the dark cloak, standing in the doorway, illuminated from behind by the lights in the hallway. Ann gasped, beside her she could feel Haru trembling, on her other side Ryuji was tensing up as well. Futaba cowered on the floor, hugging her knees. Makoto and Ren were building the front row. In the heat of the moment, she had reached for his hand.

The suspense was torturing them, they were waiting for his next move that never came.

After a few moments, Ryuji found his anger, stepping up to the first row beside Ren. „What do you want from us?“ he growled, his fists balled.

„Oh, I‘m sorry, I thought that I was invited as well...“ they heard a familiar voice, before the black cloak flipped the lightswitch, iluminating the room. They still couldn‘t make out his face, until he finlly removed the hood of his cloak, revealing a white Phantom of the Opera mask, covering half his features, leaving still enough of his face bare for the Phantom Thieves to recognize Goro Akechi.

They stood in silence for a few seconds, trying to grasp the situation, until eventually a distressed giggle escaped Haru.

„What the eff, man?“ Ryuji cursed.

„I was hoping to catch up with you since the maze.. I hope I didn‘t scare you.“ Akechi smiled, scratching his head.

„You were running after us, dressed like the reaper!“ Ann shrieked, recovering from her second scare of the day.

„Oh, this. I was afraid that my popularity would get in the way of a laid-back evening so I did my best to conceal my face.“ Akechi explained.

Yusuke chuckled lightly.„I think we truly discovered the meaning of Halloween today.“

„A Halloween Carol...“ Futaba quipped, still confused.

Ren and Makoto had disbanded their defensive stances as well, Makoto quickly released his hand.

„I admit that you gave us a good scare there...“ Makoto stated, suddenly embarassed of how her scared side had gotten the better of her, instead of just logically analyzing everything before.

„You got us.“ Ren painfully had to admit while the group walked back to the auditorium and the party.

Akechi smiled his usual TV-smile before falling behind a few steps to rearrange his costume, pulling his hood up again. While eyeing the group walking in front of him, a different grin spread across his face. His little mind game had worked. They were just a bunch of scared teenagers after all, like he had suspected. This would be easy.

**Author's Note:**

> A probably not so scary but hopefully still a little fun Halloween Story. I still enjoy writing group hangouts. This time, even Akechi was in it!
> 
> On the day of the japanese release of P5R, I dedicate this story to everyone having to dodge spoilers until next year! Stay vigilant;)
> 
> For everyone who noticed or wondered, Anns costume is from the game "Alice: Madness Returns". I don't know why, the idea just popped up in my head..
> 
> Thank you for reading, as always:)


End file.
